- Untitled
- The season begins
- Jan 2010
- Feb 2010
- March 2010
- April 2010
- May 2010
- Ski Pictures 2010
- June 2010
- July 2010
- August 2010
- September 2010
- October 2010
- Late October
- November
- December 2010
- January 2011
- February
- The European Youth Olympic Festival
- March 2011
- The season ends
- May and June 2011
- End of June
- July
- August in Yorkshire
- September 2011
- 28 October 2011
- November/December 2011
- Season 2012
- February 2012
- March and April
- June
- 'Summer' 2012
'Do you think we should do something about their luggage?' Tim whispered to me as we met up with Sam and Honor's new training set up at Heathrow, where a team of uniformed athletes were all sporting designer sports bags. The red suitcase from the Beijing market, stuffed until it was literally bursting open, was a little out of place. I didn't think the cricket holdall that I got in the local sports shop was too bad. 'Honi does have Roxy bag' I muttered, glaring at her. 'I packed light 'cos we were going to Barcelona first' she explained.
I was still trying to understand why one would take fewer clothes because one was visiting two places, with dramatically different climates, as I waved goodbye and set off back North. I might have been more concerned about her preparing to ski in the Southern Hemisphere with a handful of bikini's, if my promise of three weeks of peace and quiet had not just been shattered by Max's announcement that he had invited a few friends to stay.
Of course it is every mother's dream to be invaded by older offspring and their student friends and for four days I boasted the best qualified labour force in the country let alone Yorkshire, with mathmaticians, engineers, geologists and computer scientists ripping down fences and bouncing around on the mower while I cooked and did mothering type of stuff (and mucked around with the ponies). I could not believe my luck.
And then there were two. It had been fun while it lasted but only Max and one friend were into the manual labout long term. Encouraged by the working party's progress I became increasingly ambitious with my requests, and lavish with my catering When they had made a sturdy compost area, and a drop jump for the cross country course I asked how they felt about tackling some fencing. They were luke warm but undaunted I got them to measure up and ordered theposts and rails.
We have timber supplier in town (how lucky is that) and they delivered the materials the next morning. I signed them off. Half an hour later Max told me they had delivered the wrong size. Feeling responsible, I helped him load all 104 into the horsebox and trundled up the road where I helped a nice young lad unload all 104. 'That's all we do here' explained the boss, 'you'll have to go to Northallerton love', My enthusiasm for the the project was waning but it had been my idea so off I set. Sam Turner's in Northallerton is an agricultural supplier come garden centre - it has everything. Forty minutes later I got Max on the phone, 'please tell the guy exactly what we need'. One hour and a half later I had loaded up another 104 fence posts (surprisingly light I thought) and was on my way home. Half an hour later I was on my way back to Northallerton. Max had given the right measurements but it depends, apparently whether you take the height or the width first.
The guy at Sam Turner's thought I was the most patient women her had ever met and would I marry him? I thought I was pretty dumb for not engaging in the fence post measuring business myself. I was also pretty fuming. Max and his friend didn't stay much longer.
I was still trying to understand why one would take fewer clothes because one was visiting two places, with dramatically different climates, as I waved goodbye and set off back North. I might have been more concerned about her preparing to ski in the Southern Hemisphere with a handful of bikini's, if my promise of three weeks of peace and quiet had not just been shattered by Max's announcement that he had invited a few friends to stay.
Of course it is every mother's dream to be invaded by older offspring and their student friends and for four days I boasted the best qualified labour force in the country let alone Yorkshire, with mathmaticians, engineers, geologists and computer scientists ripping down fences and bouncing around on the mower while I cooked and did mothering type of stuff (and mucked around with the ponies). I could not believe my luck.
And then there were two. It had been fun while it lasted but only Max and one friend were into the manual labout long term. Encouraged by the working party's progress I became increasingly ambitious with my requests, and lavish with my catering When they had made a sturdy compost area, and a drop jump for the cross country course I asked how they felt about tackling some fencing. They were luke warm but undaunted I got them to measure up and ordered theposts and rails.
We have timber supplier in town (how lucky is that) and they delivered the materials the next morning. I signed them off. Half an hour later Max told me they had delivered the wrong size. Feeling responsible, I helped him load all 104 into the horsebox and trundled up the road where I helped a nice young lad unload all 104. 'That's all we do here' explained the boss, 'you'll have to go to Northallerton love', My enthusiasm for the the project was waning but it had been my idea so off I set. Sam Turner's in Northallerton is an agricultural supplier come garden centre - it has everything. Forty minutes later I got Max on the phone, 'please tell the guy exactly what we need'. One hour and a half later I had loaded up another 104 fence posts (surprisingly light I thought) and was on my way home. Half an hour later I was on my way back to Northallerton. Max had given the right measurements but it depends, apparently whether you take the height or the width first.
The guy at Sam Turner's thought I was the most patient women her had ever met and would I marry him? I thought I was pretty dumb for not engaging in the fence post measuring business myself. I was also pretty fuming. Max and his friend didn't stay much longer.